Laura Veirs arrived at Portland by way of Seattle, by way of Colorado (where she grew up). In fact, she says her Colorado upbringing provided much of her songwriting inspiration. Actually as a child she didn’t focus on music; she casually listened to whatever was playing on the radio at home.

She really didn’t start listening to music until college, where while studying geology and Mandarin Chinese she formed a feminist punk rock band called “Rair Kx!”. After graduating, while on a miserable Chinese geological expedition, she began writing songs to pass the wretched boredom.

Ever since then, according to Richie Unterberger, with longtime band mates Karl Blau and Steve Moore she has created “personal songs of romantic intoxication, everyday vignettes, and occasional social commentary that are often heavy on introspection and intense character scrutiny.”

This article appears in Mar 3-9, 2010.